CHAPTER XII.

KOSSUTH-RAYMOND-WEBB.

ARRIVAL OF LOUIS KOSSUTH IN NEW YORK IN 1851- ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION -MUNICIPAL BANQUET IN THE IRVING HOUSE RAYMOND AND JAMES WATSON WEBB — A LIVELY ALTERCATION WEBB DEFIANT POLICE RESTORING ORDER WEBB'S SUPPRESSED SPEECH SUBSEQUENTLY PRINTED THE PRESS BANQUET TO KOSSUTH IN THE ASTOR HOUSE -ADMIRABLE SPEECH BY MR. RAYMOND HIS ADVOCACY OF THE CAUSE OF HUNGARY.

LOUIS KOSSUTH arrived in the United States in 1851, landing first at Staten Island, in the harbor of New York, on Friday, the 5th of December.* He came with the flavor of a hero. At the head of the race of the Magyars, he had made a gallant stand against the tyranny of a despotic ruler. The representative of liberal ideas, he had been sustained by the moral sympathy of the enlightened, both in Europe and America; but, defeated in the field, powerless in councils which had been suddenly undermined by treachery or cowardice, he fled. The sympathy evoked by his bravery, and the admiration excited by the brilliancy of his genius, had been but unsubstantial rewards for his efforts, as well as insufficient props for the edifice of Liberty he had endeavored to erect. He came to the United States, by his own admission, in search of the sinews of war, which he designated by the phrase "material

*The steamer Humboldt, from Havre and Cowes, arrived off Staten Island at two o'clock in the morning, having on board Governor Kossuth and his family. In expectation of his coming, Dr. A. Sidney Doane, Health Officer of the port, had kept ceaseless vigil; and when the steamer was first descried, at midnight, a discharge of rockets announced the event. A large tent had been erected on the shore of Staten Island, to which, early on the following morning, Kossuth was conveyed, to undergo the ceremonies of a formal reception, and Richard Adams Locke was the orator of the occasion. Kossuth was then permitted to go on to New York, where he became the subject of continued attentions.

aid.".

phrase which soon passed into a proverb. His reception was gushingly enthusiastic. The period was longanterior to the War, and the hospitable, excitable population of New York had not yet become wearied with shoutings and dinner-giving, and the other accompaniments of a grand welcome to a distinguished guest. Moreover, Kossuth was a representative man, and he had undertaken a work which appealed directly to the heart of the American citizen. True, he had failed, but not, at that time, irremediably; and his very misfortunes served the double purpose of intensifying the popular demonstrations in his favor, and of replenishing his exhausted treasury with the voluntary contributions of his admirers.

Mr. Raymond, whose sympathy always went freely out towards the oppressed, had warmly espoused the cause of Iungary, from the outbreak of the insurrection; and he was one of the earliest to welcome the Magyar chief. It was shrewdly suspected, however, that the exceedingly conspicuous part taken by the Times, in recording the movements of the guest of the day, was due, in part, to the desire of its conductor to eclipse his contemporaries in the fulness and accuracy of its detail. Mr. Raymond was unquestionably sincere in the sentiments he expressed in relation to the struggle led by Kossuth: but the newspaper instinct was strong within him; and the Times was less than three months old when Kossuth landed. His arrival was the first notable event of the kind which had occurred since the foundation of the new journal; the opportunity was favorable for the display of enterprise. Mr. Raymond was quick to see his advantage, the part he took was that of a skilful editor, a polished orator, and a pugnacious controversialist, all in one. For himself he obtained reputation; for his paper he earned credit. The Kossuth fever was an excellent advertisement for the Times.

The municipal banquet to Kossuth was given at the Irving House, then situated at the corner of Broadway and Chambers streets, on Thursday evening, December 11, 1851. Mayor Kingsland presided. The banqueting hall was elaborately decorated, and among the guests were Robert Rantoul, of Massa

chusetts; Chauncey Cleveland, Governor of Connecticut; Hugh Maxwell, Collector of the Port of New York; William V. Brady, Postmaster of the city; Recorder F. A. Tallmadge; John Young, United States Treasurer; the members of the Common Council, the Commissioners of Emigration; United States District Attorney J. Prescott Hall; John Van Buren; Ogden Hoffman; General James Watson Webb; Major-General Sandford and the members of his Staff; Colonel Gardner, of the regular army; C. V. Anderson, Registrar; Alexander W. Bradford, Surrogate; Simeon Draper; Moses H. Grinnell ; James S. Thayer, Public Administrator; Charles O'Connor; E. K. Collins; Marshall O. Roberts, and many others distinguished in political, commercial, and literary life.

Letters of regret were received from Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, Robert C. Winthrop, Governor Washington Hunt, Christopher Morgan, and J. H. Hobart Haws. After a brief introductory speech by Mayor Kingsland, Kossuth was introduced and spoke for upwards of an hour. Then occurred a curious scene, in which Raymond figured conspicuously.

The Mayor announced the sixth regular toast, as follows:

"The Press The organized Voice of Freedom It whispers hope to the oppressed, and thunders defiance at the tyrant."

Mr. Raymond rose to respond to this toast, and General James Watson Webb, of the Courier and Enquirer, also rose to perform the same office. This circumstance gave rise to much confusion. Then were loud cries for "Raymond" and other . cries for "Webb," from different parts of the house; and considerable time elapsed before order could be restored. Mr. Raymond then proceeded to say that he had risen simply to perform a duty assigned to him by the managers of the banquet. He was interrupted at this point by Gen. Webb, when the cries were renewed, and great confusion followed. After a protracted altercation, in the course of which the police came forward and interposed, General Webb sat down, and Mr. Raymond resumed. Repeating that he had risen simply to perform a duty which had been assigned to him, he added that he had persisted

in its performance from a habit he had of finishing whatever he undertook! He had merely, on behalf of the profession to which he had the honor to belong, he continued, — to return thanks for the compliment which had just been paid it. He continued at some length, frequently interrupted by applause, closing with this sentiment:

"The First Minister Plenipotentiary from the Independent Republic of Hungary May he hasten to receive the welcome which awaits him on these shores."

This toast was received with applause; and then General Webb again took the floor. He was greeted with loud cries: "Sit down!" "Hear him!" "No, no!" "Order!" "Order!" Silence having finally been restored, the Mayor said it was the desire of the distinguished guest of the evening that the gentleman should be heard. The confusion continuing, Mr. Raymond obtained the attention of the assembly, and said it was his wish, and he believed the wish of all the members of the Press at least who were present, that the gentleman, against whom such signs of disapprobation had been expressed, should be allowed to speak. This was magnanimous.

General Webb again rose, and read some remarks from a printed slip, in which he declared it to be the frequent duty of the Press to resist public opinion, etc.; but, after he had been once or twice interrupted, he was at last forced to desist by the cries, hisses, and noises of all kinds, that were made around him.

The Times' report of this dinner, on the following day, after describing this scene, said, "We intended to publish the remarks of General Webb, in full, this morning, but their great length and the pressure upon our columns forbid." On the following day, the Times surrendered several columns of space to descriptions of the movements of Kossuth and his suite, as well as to reports of speeches made at the banquet, which had been crowded out of its report on the previous day, including that of General Webb. Webb's speech was copied from the Courier and Enquirer, and made two columns of solid minion type in the Times. The following are one or two passages from it:

"SPEECH OF JAMES WATSON WEBB, PREPARED FOR, BUT NOT MADE A DINNER TO KOSSUTH, AT THE IRVING HOUSE, LAST EVENING.

THE

"For twenty-four years, Mr. President, - nearly a quarter of a century, — I have been the sole responsible editor of the Courier and Enquirer. And this long period embraces so much of the time usually allotted to man here on earth, that I feel it my right to speak of the Press as one who is looking back upon the past; and who may, therefore, speak in its praise without being liable to the charge of self-laudation.

"Sir, when the abolitionism which has so recently shaken to its centre the whole fabric of our government first determined to make itself felt in our political contests, it selected this city for the arena wherein to plant itself, and from whence to disseminate its pestiferous sentiments. Then, as now, sir, the conservative Press proclaimed abolition doctrines treasonable to the union, and aided in driving their advocates from our city. For this act it was burned by the infatuated fanatics, and its editor complimented with groans! More recently, anti-rentism raised its hideous head in this State; and putting at defiance the law and the very basis of social order upon which society rests, has not hesitated to resort to murder itself, in support of its deliberate robberies. Controlling many thousand voters, political demagogues have been base enough to tamper with the many-headed monster, baptized, as it is, in the blood of the officers of the law. But the Press generally, mindful of its duties to the country and to itself, boldly denounced, as they merited, this band of robbers and murderers; and, for so doing, one of its editors was burnt in effigy, with his own paper as a winding-sheet, amid the fiendish groans of men far more reckless in their character than the savages they disgraced and dishonored by assuming their garb as a cloak to their lawlessness. And only three months ago, some exiles from the land of Cuba, claiming to be republicans and martyrs to liberty, demanded of the people of America intervention in the affairs of a nation with which we are at peace, and asked of our people 'MATERIAL AID' in addition to our friendly sympathy.' The Press of this city, and of the United States generally. pointed to our laws of neutrality and to the great fundamental principles of our government which regulate our intercourse with foreign nations, as an insuperable objection to a compliance with the demand. We quoted the Farewell Address of the immortal Washington as a barrier to any change in our foreign policy; while we freely expressed our sympathy with the cause of freedom throughout the world. But this did not suit the fugitive and exile from Cuba, — the self-styled martyr in the cause of Republican Liberty, who was so utterly ignorant of its first principles, that he would have controlled the liberty of the press, as he controlled his own down-trodden slaves; and he appealed from the doctrines of Washington, the laws of the land, and the government itself, to the SOVEREIGN PEOPLE!' And in yonder park, under your own eyes, Mr. Mayor and President, while your two houses were in session, gentlemen of the Common Council, he then and there asked for and received three groans for the Conservative Press from the excited populace whom his eloquence had roused to frenzy, and who were persuaded to look upon him as the Apostle of Liberty."